Teen S. Korean swimmer breaks own world junior record in nat'l team trials

JEJU, May 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korean teen swimming sensation Hwang Sun-woo broke his own world junior record in the 200-meter freestyle on Sunday, turning himself into a dark horse at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

Hwang, 17, won the men's 200m freestyle race at the national team trials with a time of 1:44.96.

He had owned the previous world junior record with 1:45.92, set during last year's national team trials in November.

Hwang's time from Sunday is the world's fourth-fastest time in the 200m freestyle this year, though swimming powerhouses, such as the United States and Australia, haven't completed their Olympic trials.

Hwang finished just 0.16 second shy of the South Korean national record (1:44.80), set by Park Tae-hwan when he won the gold medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.

More importantly, Hwang's record would have been good enough for the silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016. Sun Yang of China won gold with 1:44.65 and no one else broke the 1:45 mark.

The teenager is now dreaming big.

"I was shocked that I finished in the 1:44 range," Hwang said at his post-race press conference at the swimming pool at Jeju Sports Complex in Jeju Island. "I felt my time would be pretty good because I had a good race. And once I saw the result on the board, I was pretty excited. I realized winning an Olympic medal won't just be a pipe dream."

Lee Jeong-hoon, head coach of the national swimming team, said Hwang's performance on Sunday will allow him to adjust his goals at Tokyo.

"We were hoping he'd come in around the early 1:45 range, and that would be good enough to compete at the Olympics," Lee said. "Now, we should try to go for a medal, instead of just settling to make the final (for the eight best swimmers from the preliminaries)."

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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